The Best Director

Chapter 92: Juno Reboot

Translator: 549690339

Flame Film Company announced on its official website the release schedule for two films in the second half of the year, the first of which is “Memento,” an independent film that won the Best Screenplay award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, would be released on a small scale during the Halloween season. This was expected. Ever since Flame Film purchased “Memento” for a record-breaking $8 million, the media and film companies knew it would be released —Wang Yang treated that dizzying mystery film as his treasured baby.

For the average moviegoers and fans, there was also a bit of anticipation, not because the director Christopher Nolan was well-known—he was almost unknown; but because it was so valued by Flame Film and Wang Yang, and it won the Best Screenplay at the film festival, it might be a very good movie. However, no information about the story of “Memento” was revealed by Flame Film, and the newly launched official website for “Memento” only contained an online jigsaw puzzle game. The completed image of the puzzle was a still from the film, which added a lot of mystery to the movie.

What truly caught the attention of the media, excited the fans, and put the major film companies on alert was Flame Film’s second plan announcement— Wang Yang was about to begin production on the long-prepared “Juno.” He would also serve as producer, director, and screenwriter for “Juno,” which was scheduled to be released during this year’s Christmas season! And for the role of “Juno,” Flame Film still hadn’t announced who it would be; but Wang Yang revealed some story content of “Juno,” “This is a drama about a high school girl getting pregnant. Juno is a 16-year-old high school student who gets pregnant, and the story starts from there.”

The Energetic Miracle Yang!” That’s what the Los Angeles Times reported: “The third week of ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ has just begun, and that prodigious kid is already shooting his next film, ‘Juno,’ the project he announced earlier than ‘The Pursuit of Happyness.’ His production speed is certainly astonishing, but perhaps this is just Miracle Yang. After watching ‘The Pursuit of Happyness,’ there’s no need to debate whether his brain was overheating for the time being.”

It is noteworthy that the ‘Juno’ project was announced by him in July last year. At that time, he auditioned thousands of girls for the role of Juno, and eventually the official explanation was, ‘Due to the selection of the actress for the female lead, the shooting plan will be postponed’; and now he obviously has found the girl, although we still do not know who it is.”

Compared to the curiosity about the role of Juno, whether it was the media or fans, their attention was more focused on Wang Yang’s mention of “content” at this point—a drama about a high school girl getting pregnant?! Isn’t it a romantic campus love story? Isn’t it a comedy like “American Pie”? It is actually about a girl getting pregnant! Everyone knew this was a generally taboo subject, a thankless task with hardly any successful examples. What was the 20-year-old Miracle Yang preparing to shoot? What was he planning to say?

The editorial comment in the Los Angeles Times reported, “It seems surprising, but truthfully, I saw this coming. Miracle Yang’s performance in ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ proved his directing ability far beyond his years, and also his pursuit of drama. He’s no longer a ‘teen film’ director. From him dropping “High School Musical 2″ and announcing ‘Juno,’ ‘The Pursuit of Happyness,’ you can see he has this idea, ‘I won’t direct ordinary campus stories anymore. If I shoot, I will shoot something challenging,’ an ambitious young man.”

But can Wang Yang shoot it well? Will “Juno” be a high-quality film? This time the media didn’t make any predictions, only expressed some expectations, while hinting “this subject is very difficult.” Fans on the internet, however, were free to express their views, and they were all excited and anticipating “Juno.” The more challenging it is, the better—that fits Miracle Yang’s style, doesn’t it?

Guess what kind of movie ‘Juno’ will be? Teen pregnancy is a very serious topic, so will it be a serious didactic film? Telling us to use condoms when having sex? Or that high school students shouldn’t have sex?” This popular post had quite a few replies: “I don’t think so; he had a girlfriend in high school, maybe ‘Juno’ is his high school story, but we don’t see him having an illegitimate child, so this is a story in favor of abortion.” ”

definitely not possible, unless Miracle Yang has really gone crazy, I’m firmly against abortion! If Miracle Yang supports it, I won’t like him anymore!”

Dude, that’s

That’s the difficulty with teen pregnancy as a subject; the mention of “teen pregnancy” makes people think of abortion—is it good, is it legal? Once you express your opinion, you offend half the people, so this is why it is a thankless task and why there are no successful similar movies.

In April this year, 20th Century Fox released “Sweetheart,” a rare type of movie about a girl getting pregnant. With a $15 million budget, it was shown in 2,437 theaters in its opening week and has so far only received $18 million at the box office, which means it was a failure in terms of its box office performance. However, it received fairly good reviews, and that’s because it didn’t talk too much about pregnancy, nor did it touch on opinions about abortion. The focus of its story was on how Novalee was strong, kind, and knew how to find beauty; pregnancy was just a beginning.

After the first ten minutes or so, Novalee gave birth to her child; another ten minutes later, Novalee’s child was already over three years old, and then Novalee, with her child in tow, pursued her own love and happiness… That’s the story of “Sweetheart.” So will “Juno” be like this? If so, what makes “Juno

continue to be miraculous? Fans of Wang Yang were very much looking forward to it, but they were also a bit worried.

Wang Yang didn’t reveal much more about ‘Juno’, but he wasn’t going to keep it mysterious forever, as that promotional strategy isn’t suit for a campus drama. The synopsis of ‘Juno’ would be revealed gradually in stages to keep fans interested. Right now, the film didn’t lack attention, and if the news that Natalie Portman was cast as Juno were to be announced, those gossip tabloids would certainly erupt. He had been busy enough recently and didn’t want the distraction of rumors, so he decided to wait until all the actors were cast before making a joint announcement.

Rachel, are you okay?” Wang Yang asked while lying on the couch, looking at a golden popcorn trophy on the coffee table, and speaking into the phone, “Has your cold gotten better?” From the other end, Rachel gave a gentle hum, saying, “Thank you, it’s nothing serious, I’m getting better.”

Last night was the 9th MTV Movie Awards, an international film award hosted by MTV’s global music television network. Unlike the Golden Globes or the Oscars, its awards were not decided by judges but were entirely based on the votes of the general audience. Therefore, ‘High School Musical’ had previously been nominated for five major awards at this edition of the MTV Movie Awards – Best Picture, Breakthrough Male (Tom Willing), Breakthrough Female (Jessica Alba), Best Music, and Best Scenery, making it one of the event’s most popular contenders.

Wang Yang, Jessica, Tom Willing, Zachary, and others were invited to the awards ceremony, but Rachel, who had also been invited, did not attend because she had caught a severe cold. The MTV Movie Awards came to a conclusion amid joyous commotion, with ‘The Matrix’ winning Best Picture and ‘High School Musical’ taking home the golden popcorn trophy for Best Music only.

That’s good to hear,” Wang Yang said with a slight smile, relieved by her lively voice, then asked, “By the way, Rachel, I’m planning to shoot ‘Juno’ in Toronto. Do you have any beautiful, rural-style towns to recommend?” He said with his eyes closed, picturing the scene he described, “A peaceful place with two-story wooden houses, surrounded by trees, like something out of a landscape painting…”

The choice to film in Toronto was not only because the weather and seasonal scenery there were perfect for the film’s needs, but more importantly, to save money. Flame Film Company’s bank account was nearly zero, which highlighted the company’s financial situation.

After ‘High School Musical’ original soundtracks sold close to 7 million copies worldwide and DVDs sold nearly 12 million copies, subsequent discounts and price reductions had taken their toll, and sales had stalled. The enormous profits generated—100 million for the acquisition of Blue Sky Studios, 30 million in production costs, 20 million in promotional costs for ‘High School Musical 2’, 60 million total cost for ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’, 8 million to acquire ‘Memento’, along with salaries and bonuses for company employees, strategic purchases of old movie rights to expand the film library, business development in North America and overseas, and growing the company—had all evaporated.

Nearly zero cash? That was certainly not a healthy financial situation. If any investment failed, the consequences could range from severe losses to a path of debts. This wasn’t Mark Slant’s idea; he had advised Wang Yang many times to accept joint investments from other companies, such as Lionsgate, which had been seeking cooperation, to reduce risks. But Wang Yang’s answer was “NO”. He saw no immediate need for it.

However, the rental fee for ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ would take some time to be collected, and not to mention ‘High School Musical 2’, which was to premiere in August and was an unpredictable success. Therefore, the production budget of ‘Juno’ was only 15 million dollars. Aside from the combined 7.3 million dollars in salary for Natalie Portman and Michael Pitt, the remaining 7.7 million had to pay for crew members like Varry Fiest, as well as other actors’ wages—areas where expenses were hard to cut, even though Wang Yang had only allocated a single US dollar for his own pay. On the other hand, there was also the cost of equipment, film stock, and production staff, areas where it was possible to cut costs.

It wasn’t that the film stock in Canada was especially cheap, but the wages for set workers and extras were much lower, and the shooting-related tax policies allowed significant tax savings. Compared to shooting in America, the overall cost could be reduced by about i5°/o-2O%. For Flame Film in its current state, ‘Juno’ would either have to delay filming until the rental fees from the theater companies were paid or shoot on a tight budget. Filming in Canada would not affect the film’s quality, so he opted for the latter.

Oh! And there must be a small but equally beautiful high school,” Wang Yang said eagerly, turning over and continuing, “It doesn’t need to be as dreamy as East High, with no yellow school buses. Instead, students should ride bicycles to school…”

I don’t know… I really don’t,” Rachel suddenly interrupted him, saying, “I don’t know, Yang, I can’t understand the description you’re giving. I’m feeling a bit dizzy, and I need to sleep now.”

Wang Yang paused, unsure if it was his imagination, but he felt that Rachel had suddenly become hostile towards him again. Hadn’t they resolved their issues? Even though they were no longer as close as they once were, they would sometimes have casual conversations like normal friends. Now… perhaps she was just feeling ill and in a bad mood because she had to miss performing on stage at the MTV Movie Awards. He nodded and said, “Alright then, take good care of yourself. You know ‘High School Musical 2’ will be starting its promotional activities soon, and we can’t do it without you.” With that, he laughed lightly.

Hmm, I will, bye!” Rachel just finished speaking, and hung up the call, with the phone emitting a series of beeps. Wang Yang said “bye” as he put down the phone, then suddenly remembered something, and his brow furrowed in confusion and curiosity, “Why is there no nasal sound?” Rachel’s voice was soft, but completely void of nasality, which he found odd because last time Rachel had a slight cold, there was a heavy nasal quality to her voice, indicating that was just her constitution, and now with a serious cold…

Hey, you’re not Holmes! And you never really took a class at the University of Southern California’s medical school! Wang Yang shook his head with a smile, reached for a thick book titled “Pregnancy Handbook” on the coffee table, and continued his previous reading. Not only did Natalie Portman need to understand Juno and establish this character; he also needed to grasp Juno’s mindset, to know what she would face throughout her pregnancy, what specific changes her body would undergo, so he could better understand the concept of a “teen pregnancy,” the mental shifts Juno would experience, and thereby gain better control over the story.

How to Be a

So since “Juno” was green-lit last year, he had been reading lots of books like this, “Psychology of Pregnancy,” “Pregnancy Encyclopedia,” ” Happy Pregnant Woman”… He’d been sporadically reading them for almost a year, and by now, he was practically a “master of pregnancy knowledge.” If Jessica suddenly got pregnant, he wouldn’t panic; he probably even knew how to deliver a baby, although it was all armchair theory.

In his reading plan, there were also books about slang and jokes. The reason Juno, the girl, was cool and had a unique charm, was reflected in her words and actions, with “words” being a crucial part. Her speech needed to be interesting and innovative, something that could become catchphrases, trending both in real life and online. But many of the original script’s lines were no longer suitable, partly due to changes in the story, but most critically because many phrases were incomprehensible, like “honest-to-blog” – what is a Blog?

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It was only when he accidentally got into blogging that he understood what Blog meant, and the phrase’s implication of “I swear to the blog, this is true. It’s a twist on “honest-to-God,” where people are expected to be truthful before God, and one of the purposes of a Blog is to express one’s true thoughts, hence “honest-to-blog.” But it clearly couldn’t be used now, as not that many people were into blogging at present.

Juno needed to set trends, yet also be in touch with them. The way young people talked nowadays couldn’t elude her. Fortunately, he is considered “young” himself, not yet out of touch with the current trends. So, how could Juno set the tone? That’s why he read books on slang and jokes; he could gain more inspiration and ideas from them, inventing interesting phrases and jokes. Sometimes he would also discuss them with Natalie, asking her to analyze from a psychological standpoint whether a joke was funny; Natalie’s response would be, “From a psychological angle, it’s not funny at all, it’s just a trap that triggers a certain reaction in the body; but from Natalie’s perspective, it is hilarious.”

As nearly a year went by, after shooting and producing “The Pursuit of Happyness” and pondering over “Juno,” Wang Yang had numerous new ideas. The thickness of the script and its dialogues had been growing over this past year, and he planned to film everything he envisioned, then post-edit the material into a 120-minute movie.

Best places for conception, number one, a cozy home…” Wang Yang read from the “Pregnancy Handbook” in his hands, and then, struck by a sudden notion, he flipped through the pages absentmindedly for a while before setting down the book and dialing a number on his phone, tenderly saying, “Hey, sweetheart, good evening, how about coming over to my place? I miss you.

Jessica laughed happily on the other end, sweetly replying, “You’re dingier than Danny; we just saw each other this morning.” She was about to say something else when she caught onto his real intentions, saying, “Oh! Not now, I don’t want to at the moment.” Wang Yang coughed, saying, “Don’t want what? Don’t get me wrong, I just want to discuss some pregnancy matters with you.” Jessica chuckled, “Are you talking about getting me pregnant? Yang, not tonight.”

Wang Yang couldn’t help but laugh out loud, thinking as long as he could coax her over, everything would be fine, chuckling, “Hey, why are you always thinking about those NC-17 things? I’m telling you, this is a very serious matter.” He paused, then earnestly said, “I want to know, back when we were in the car last year looking at that test strip, and then I said ‘It’s positive,’ and you thought you were pregnant, what were your thoughts at that moment?” Without waiting for her reply, he added, “I also have many, many questions, so please, come over.”

We can talk about it here,” Jessica remained steadfast. Wang Yang rolled his eyes in annoyance and chuckled, then playfully threatened, “If you don’t come over, then I’m coming to your place!” Jessica’s laughter came through the phone, and she replied, “Hmm, I’ll be waiting for you to come over.”

I’m on my way now! Bye!” Wang Yang pressed the end call button, feeling a surge of impulsiveness. He leaped off the sofa, slipped into his slippers, and as he stepped outside the house, he dashed toward Jessica’s place at full speed. Bathed in the moonlight, he sped past the tree-lined path, the fountain… The several hundred meters distance seemed to pass in a blink, and when he saw the brightly lit big house, he chuckled breathlessly and slowed his pace as he reached the front lawn, walked to the side of the house, and looked up at a brightly lit second-floor window, which was Jessica’s room. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he softly called out, “Hey, Juliet? It’s me, Romeo! Hey, Juliet…”

Suddenly, Danny’s barking came from inside the house, and Jessica appeared by the window. She looked down and her face instantly became a mix of surprise and amusement. She said, “Yang, you really did come!” Wang Yang spread his hands and replied, “You see me!” He looked around, laughing as he spoke, “How am I supposed to climb up to your room? Juliet, do you have a rope or something? Give me one! Hey, right now I really envy that guy Spider-Man.”

Leaning against the window, Jessica chuckled with her chin propped on her hands, watching his helpless figure. She laughed and said, “Forgot, huh? You don’t need rope or spider silk, just fly in here, Superman!” Wang Yang smiled and placed his hands on his hips, nodding, “You reminded me, I am Superman, but I need a phone booth, and a pair of red underwear…”

Don’t move! I have my gun aimed at you!” At that moment, a serious voice came from behind, it was Mark Alba’s voice. He shouted, “If you don’t want to be shot, raise your hands high!” This is bad… Wang Yang slowly raised his hands and said, “Take it easy, Mark, it’s me, Yang!” Jessica above also looked tense, hurriedly shouting, “It’s Yang! Oh my God, dad, it’s Yang!”

I know it’s him.” Mark Alba said calmly, leaving Wang Yang stunned for a moment. “What?” When he turned around, he saw that Mark’s hands were empty; where was the gun? Wang Yang held his forehead and laughed, “Mark, are you really Mark?” Jessica leaned out to look and said helplessly, “Dad, how could you make such a joke! You scared me to death!”

Mark Alba laughed out loud. He had long wanted to give the kid a good thrashing, and since he couldn’t, now it was a lesson to just scare him a bit. Mark walked up to Wang Yang, patted him on the shoulder, and whispered, “Kid, you like to joke, don’t you? Red underwear?” He looked into Wang Yang’s eyes and said, “Don’t mess around on my turf, or even if you are Superman, I’ll still hit you.” Wang Yang shrugged and grinned, “OK, your turf, your rules.”

Lying on the bed in Jessica’s bedroom, Wang Yang took a deep breath, looking at her in a tank top and shorts. He said, “I almost really became Romeo today, Jessie. I just found out your dad has this side to him.” Jessica folded her arms across her chest and chuckled, “Still want to discuss about pregnancy?” Wang Yang glanced at her long, sexy legs, then rolled his eyes and said, “No, although I would like to discuss, let’s not. This isn’t my turf.”

Suddenly, Wang Yang thought that maybe they should move in together, although Catholics don’t allow cohabitation, and there are plenty of other things Catholics don’t allow, like premarital sex, but he currently had no money to buy a big house, and he was soon off to Toronto to shoot “Juno”, so maybe when he had money, they would rethink it.

Oh! Then you’re forfeiting your own choice.” Jessica smiled as she walked to the side of the bed and leaned over to kiss his face. She sat down and picked up a film magazine from the nightstand to casually flip through. Wang Yang, with his eyes closed, murmured softly, “That’s good too, I have to start auditions again tomorrow. Best to rest well. Jessie, is it okay if I sleep here?”

Jessica ignored his last question, patted his thigh seriously, and said, “Yang, what do you think about me playing Juno’s good friend Leah? Can I go audition?” Wang Yang opened his eyes to look at her, shook his head, and replied, “The look is okay, but the temperament doesn’t fit. You and Leah are completely different types, and you’re too attention-grabbing.” If it were just her playing Leah, maybe it would work; but paired with Natalie Portman to play best friends, temperamentally, there was no chemistry.

And you have to do the promotion for ‘High School Musical 2’, right?” Wang Yang added another point, knowing her thoughts and providing comfort, “Jessica, we’ll have opportunities to shoot films together again.” A hint of disappointment crossed Jessica’s face. She smiled and said, “Mm, it’s okay, I know.”

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